Psychiatry with Precision Rx
When appropriate, our clinicians prescribe medication to treat a member's mental health condition, with support from our clinical decision support tool, PrecisionRx. Using proprietary machine learning models, PrecisionRx utilizes up to 200 data points about an individual to surface to our clinicians the medication + dose combination likely to be most tolerable and effective for that patient (from over 1,000 options, excluding all controlled substances).
We then closely follow the member's progress with regular check-ins, anytime messaging, and follow up video sessions, and update our decision support model with what we learn about prescription efficacy and tolerance from each individual.
Therapy
Therapy with Brightside requires active participation from both therapist and patient and includes interactive psychoeducation, reflection, practice planning, and practice–all supported and personalized by an expert therapist that is with the patient every step of the way with live video sessions and anytime messaging. Patients develop skills in 10 progress-adherent interactive lessons, and applications are explored between and during virtual therapy sessions with their therapist.
Suicide Prevention Program
The Suicide Prevention Program is a telehealth program for treating those with elevated suicide risk. This life-saving program, available nationwide, is based on the CAMS framework—a care model backed by 30 years of research and five randomized controlled trials.
A Healthcare study looked at the feasibility and effectiveness of the program as a scalable suicide-specific treatment model:
- All patients, on average, experienced declines in depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, suicidal ideation frequency, and suicide-specific risk factors.
- Patients were offered appointments within 24-72 hours. On average, patients’ initial evaluations were held within 4 days.
- 80% of patients who met graduation criteria did so within 8 sessions
- Nearly 90% of graduating patients stepped-down and remained engaged in ongoing mental health care at Brightside.
Intensive Outpatient Program for Substance Use Disorder
In 2024, Brightside Health launched a virtual intensive outpatient program (IOP) for substance use disorder (SUD) following its acquisition of Lionrock Recovery. IOP addresses SUD needs with structured, cost-effective treatment as an alternative to inpatient care. Offering over 40 treatment hours per month, it includes psychiatry, medication-assisted treatment, three weekly 3-hour group sessions, individual therapy, lab testing, and peer support access. Using evidence-based methods like Unified Protocol, DBT, and CBT, Brightside’s IOP reduces admission rates; supports follow-up after emergency department visit for mental illness (FUM) and follow-up after hospitalization for mental illness (FUH) metrics; HEDIS measures; and tracks outcomes for 100% of patients—adding measurable value for partners.
Enterprise Quality Improvements
Brightside Health is the ideal partner to address issues of access, engagement, escalation, and care gaps.
We take action using partner-focused reporting that includes closed-loop outcomes data to drive optimal revenue, customized dashboards for enhanced visibility, and supplemental data files to bridge quality gaps and support holistic patient care.
Our tiered levels of care help prevent escalations, directing individuals with positive suicidal ideation screens to our Suicide Prevention Program for rapid referrals, while our collaborative approach supports care management referrals as needed. This prevention of escalation, in turn, leads to a reduction in ED admissions and associated cost savings.
We also help reduce ED readmissions and ensure timely, post-discharge follow-up care, including 7- and 30-day FUM, FUH, FUI, and FUA, transitions of care episodes, and engagement lists to facilitate proactive outreach. These services ensure necessary care continuity and also help health systems and payers achieve related objectives and measures (e.g., HEDIS, STAR).